Utilizing ethnographic and archaeological data and an updated paradigm derived from the best features of cultural ecology and ecological anthropology, this extensively illustrated book addresses over fifteen South American adaptive systems representing a broad cross section of band, village, chiefdom, and state societies throughout the continent over the past 13,000 years. Indigenous South Americans of the Past and Present presents data on both prehistoric and recent indigenous groups across the entire continent within an explicit theoretical framework. Introductory chapters provide a brief overview of the variability that has characterized these groups over the long period of indigenous adaptation to the continent and examine the historical background of the ecological and cultural evolutionary paradigm. The book then presents a detailed overview of the principal environmental contexts within which indigenous adaptive systems have survived and evolved over thousands of years. It discusses the relationship between environmental types and subsistence productivity, on the one hand, and between these two variables and sociopolitical complexity, on the other. Subsequent chapters proceed in sequential order that is at once evolutionary (from the least to the most complex groups) and geographical (from the least to the most productive environments)-around the continent in counterclockwise fashion from the hunter-gatherers of Tierra del Fuego in the far south; to the villagers of the Amazonian lowlands; to the chiefdoms of the Amazon várzea and the far northern Andes; and, finally, to the chiefdoms and states of the Peruvian Andes. Along the way, detailed presentations and critiques are made of a number of theories based on the South American data that have worldwide implications for our understanding of prehistoric and recent adaptive systems.

"This book shows brilliance and contains a systematic explanation of archaeological, ethnological, ethnohistorical, and environmental information of indigenous groups in South America. It is an all-inclusive masterpiece."

--Joe Bastien, University of Texas at Arlington

"This book is an important source for all archaeologists who seek to understand cultural variability from both an ethnographic and archaeological perspective. The author's attention to detail and in-depth coverage of many groups from South America's rich ethnographic record is rare in a book with such an extensive geographical scope. This book is certain to be widely used for many years by professional ethnographers and anthropologists, but it also has much to offer all readers who have an interest in small-scale societies."

--Lewis Binford, Southern Methodist University

Introduction

Theoretical Approach An Overview of South American Environments Subsistence and Sociocultural Development Band Societies of the Present and the Past Amazonian Villages and Chiefdoms Northwest Villages and Chiefdoms Contemporary Central Andean Village Groups Prehistoric Central Andean States Toward a Scientific Paradigm in South Americanism Studies

Indigenous South Americans of the Past and Present : An Ecological Perspective - 99 edition

Utilizing ethnographic and archaeological data and an updated paradigm derived from the best features of cultural ecology and ecological anthropology, this extensively illustrated book addresses over fifteen South American adaptive systems representing a broad cross section of band, village, chiefdom, and state societies throughout the continent over the past 13,000 years. Indigenous South Americans of the Past and Present presents data on both prehistoric and recent indigenous groups across the entire continent within an explicit theoretical framework. Introductory chapters provide a brief overview of the variability that has characterized these groups over the long period of indigenous adaptation to the continent and examine the historical background of the ecological and cultural evolutionary paradigm. The book then presents a detailed overview of the principal environmental contexts within which indigenous adaptive systems have survived and evolved over thousands of years. It discusses the relationship between environmental types and subsistence productivity, on the one hand, and between these two variables and sociopolitical complexity, on the other. Subsequent chapters proceed in sequential order that is at once evolutionary (from the least to the most complex groups) and geographical (from the least to the most productive environments)-around the continent in counterclockwise fashion from the hunter-gatherers of Tierra del Fuego in the far south; to the villagers of the Amazonian lowlands; to the chiefdoms of the Amazon várzea and the far northern Andes; and, finally, to the chiefdoms and states of the Peruvian Andes. Along the way, detailed presentations and critiques are made of a number of theories based on the South American data that have worldwide implications for our understanding of prehistoric and recent adaptive systems.

"This book shows brilliance and contains a systematic explanation of archaeological, ethnological, ethnohistorical, and environmental information of indigenous groups in South America. It is an all-inclusive masterpiece."

--Joe Bastien, University of Texas at Arlington

"This book is an important source for all archaeologists who seek to understand cultural variability from both an ethnographic and archaeological perspective. The author's attention to detail and in-depth coverage of many groups from South America's rich ethnographic record is rare in a book with such an extensive geographical scope. This book is certain to be widely used for many years by professional ethnographers and anthropologists, but it also has much to offer all readers who have an interest in small-scale societies."

--Lewis Binford, Southern Methodist University

Table of Contents

Introduction

Theoretical Approach An Overview of South American Environments Subsistence and Sociocultural Development Band Societies of the Present and the Past Amazonian Villages and Chiefdoms Northwest Villages and Chiefdoms Contemporary Central Andean Village Groups Prehistoric Central Andean States Toward a Scientific Paradigm in South Americanism Studies